Pre-Camp Adventure
and density-focused running tips
Jet lag has been less of an issue in 2024 than 2023.
My good wife says, “Jet lag’s a choice.”
She might have something there.
Meaning, when we are super motivated and excited… we have the energy to push through the difficult parts of the day.
As usual, I woke up really early. Tried to stay in bed until 4am, didn’t happen, so I went for a run.
Ran down to the high-rent district at the lakeshore. Saturday night was wrapping up and it reminded me of my time in Hong Kong. We used to be heading out for our endurance workouts (trying to beat the heat) while others were heading home from a big-night-out.
Got back, killed time until the breakfast buffet opened then headed out for a countryside ride that John had recommended. It was great. There are bike paths everywhere in Geneva. A reminder that we could make North America a whole lot safer for cycling. Europe has done an excellent job with their infrastructure.
Long transfer to Provence today. Lively conversation with Johno kept me engaged.
Such as…
John told me the last time they put Ventoux in an Epic Camp, he set the route so the riders had 100K in their legs before they hit the base!
There are three different ways up Ventoux and at least one of our guys is self-supporting tomorrow and attempting to ride all three.
One trip up will be enough for me.
Stepping Up To Ironman Running
One of the mistakes we make in triathlon is thinking about the event as a separate swim, a separate bike and a separate run… then training for those individual distances.
We see this with the duration people use for their long swims and long bikes.
With the run, what we see is a lack of fatigue tolerance as well as too much stress from running faster than race pace. Iron Rookies are shocked when they look at the average pace they delivered on race day.
For amateurs, an Olympic distance run is more like Half Marathon Pace, and a 70.3 run is closer to marathon pace.
There’s a lot of leeway around that statement based on the athlete profile and their chronic mileage. But you can probably see my point.
I came to Ironman racing from an ultra running background. As an ultra runner (ultra hiker more accurately) I didn’t have speed but I could keep trucking for a long time.
I happen to have a buddy (Chris Grauch, link to his coaching biz) who’s one of the best 50+ masters runners in the world - all distances, really good in the hills, up high and going long.
So I asked Chris for ideas about “training for your first 50-miler.” I wanted to learn how he’d approach with an amateur, stepping up to the distance.
His thoughts…
While I’m learning about the athlete’s profile and tolerances, we’d use a four-week rotation for the long workout:
Double long run
Long run with “pace”
Double long run
Easier Week
Double long run means going long, and easy, back-to-back days. This is something I did training for Ultraman. Double-long worked better than trying to run 4-5 hours in a single day (too much recovery required, it would cost me a lot within my week).
Pace Inserts depends on the level of the athlete. it could mean anything from High Zone 1 to Tempo for an advanced runner. At my level, I would start by challenging myself to hold High Zone 1 Pace in the second half of the run and see what happened to heart rate. This week is a single long run.
The rest of the program is easy endurance, with the exception of a “fast session” during the week. Fast meaning Tempo or Red Zone depending on athlete needs and the time of the year.
With a triathlete by the time you layer on swims & bikes, there won’t be much mojo left for peppy swims/bikes. This is common whenever we push run load. You will find you need to back off on everything else.
This is a modified version of the density approach I outlined in our running chapter. I used a scaled down version to prepare for my Half Marathon (Jan 2024) and Alpe d’Huez Try (this trip).
I wanted to pass this along because many triathletes/runners injure themselves with a mileage focus. If you find yourself biomechnically constrained then a density focus can help you get specific stress without breaking down.
Camp Goals
I told John my #1 Goal is to be the best camper he’s ever had on an Epic Camp.
I‘ll touch on my other goals in a future effort.
Gordo: as you prep for Roth, what are your plans (if any) with regard to the "Double long run" as described here. More specifically, for these double runs what zone/pace/effort and what distances would you consider for yourself, or a seasoned, healthy, competitive Ironman athlete? Thanks in advance.